France asks Belgium to extradite Paris suspects

France requests the extradition of four suspects charged over Paris attacks, including three accused of helping Salah Abdeslam.

Arutz Sheva Staff, 20/05/16 05:13

Bullet holes in the window of a restaurant targeted in Paris attack

Reuters

France has requested the extradition of four suspects charged in Belgium over the November 13 attacks in Paris, including three accused of helping prime suspect Salah Abdeslam flee after the attacks, AFP reported Thursday.

The four suspects include Mohamed Amri and Hamza Attou, who were seen on CCTV driving Abdeslam to Brussels just hours after the Paris attacks. The third man is named as Ali Oulkadi, who dropped Abdeslam off at a Brussels address the day after the attacks, sources told AFP.

The fourth man, Mohamed Bakkali, is thought to have played a logistical role in the terror cell, notably renting a BMW seen near three safe houses where the Paris attacks were prepared.

All four men are subject to European arrest warrants issued in late April, setting the stage for the extradition procedure.

"Considering the close cooperation between France and Belgium in this inquiry, we are hopeful that they will be transferred fairly soon," lawyer Olivier Morice, who represents more than two dozen victims and families in the case, told AFP.

Amri, 27, and Attou, 21, were arrested in the notorious Molenbeek district of Brussels the day after the Paris attacks. Attou has since told investigators that Abdeslam claimed his explosives vest failed to detonate during the coordinated gun and suicide bomb attacks, which killed 130 people.

Oulkadi, 31, was seen driving in Brussels with Abdeslam on November 14. He was a close friend of Abdeslam's brother Brahim, one of the Paris suicide bombers, according to the news agency.